Jackson Hits Two, Padres Top Cubs : Baseball: His home runs help Padres to rare comeback victory, 12-9, at Wrigley.

The telephone started ringing the moment he checked into his hotel room. Friends, acquaintances, strangers. Darrin Jackson heard from them all.

When you’ve been swinging the bat Jackson has the past four weeks, friends you never thought existed start surfacing. The request usually is the same. They want tickets. Preferably, behind the dugout.

Fed up with the disturbances, Jackson decided he had no other recourse. He marched down to the lobby and registered under another name.

George Foreman.

If Jackson continues to have performances such as the one Sunday in the Padres’ 12-9 victory over the Chicago Cubs, he may need an alias in every city.

In the finest game of his major league career, Jackson hit two home runs--including his first grand slam--and drove in a career-high five runs, pacing the Padres to their biggest comeback victory of the season. The 31,390 fans at Wrigley Field weren’t sure whether to gasp at his strength or curse the ex-Cub.

“It was incredible,” Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn said. “When you play here, you kind of expect those kinds of things. You have a lead, and wham, you lose it. But I can’t ever remember being on the winning end of one here.

“Usually, we’re on the bottom end.

“But not today, thanks to Superman over there.”

The Padres, trailing 9-5 in the sixth inning, sent 11 batters to the plate against three Cub pitchers, and by the time the inning ended, Jackson had a grand slam and the Padres had an 11-9 lead.

Jackson, traded from the Cubs in 1989, punished them with his bat.

The man who patiently awaited his turn to be the Padres’ starting center fielder, sitting on the bench while Shawn Abner, Thomas Howard and Bip Roberts all had their shots, now is ready for center stage.

“My dream,” Jackson said, “is for them to come up to me and say, ‘Darrin, you’re our starting center fielder. You’re our man.’

“That’s what I’m waiting for.”

Jackson may get that wish today. The Padre coaching staff plans to inform Jackson he’ll start playing every day. Howard, who has been platooning with Jackson, will be playing more in left field. Jerald Clark will be spending time on the bench.

“He’s earned that right,” Padre Manager Greg Riddoch said of Jackson.

The Padres’ plans can change in the time it takes to make a phone call. While Jackson has been the Padres’ hottest hitter this past month, batting .341 with five homers and 13 RBIs, pennant contenders have taken notice. All of a sudden, Jackson has become a valuable commodity.

It’s not as if the Padres are eager to trade Jackson, but you can be assured they’re listening to offers, knowing Jackson’s trade value may never be higher.

“That’s stuff I’ve been thinking about,” Jackson said. “I’ve been thinking I might be traded. I’m doing a good job, and someone might say, ‘We’d like to have that guy.’ Or the Padres might say, ‘Wait, he belongs to us, we’re not letting him go.’

“I’d love to stay here. I’d love to be the everyday center fielder in San Diego. But if someone wants me to be their guy, that’s all right too.

“I just don’t want to go somewhere where I’m sitting on the bench.

“I couldn’t handle that again.”

If Jackson’s performance Sunday wasn’t impressive enough, it was his prediction before the game that dazzled his teammates.

He simply called it in the clubhouse.

“DJ comes in today and says, ‘I’m going to hit No. 13 today,’ ” Gwynn said. “I said, ‘OK, sure, sure.’ Then Tuff (Tim Teufel) says, ‘I’m going to take him deep too.’

“The next thing I know, DJ leads off the game with a homer. And then Tuff comes up in the second inning and homers. I finally told Tony Fernandez in the fifth inning, ‘You want to go deep, too? He said, ‘No, I can’t go deep.’

“And then Tony homers. . . .

“I’m telling you, the man (Jackson) is on a roll.”

Jackson, whose 14 homers and 30 RBIs this season are career-highs, was never more needed than in the sixth inning. The Padres already had blown a 4-0 lead in the second inning when the Cubs knocked starter Dennis Rasmussen out of the game. They went on to build a 9-5 lead through five innings, changed pitchers to Scott May in the sixth and then watched everything disintegrate.

May never retired a batter, loading the bases. Bob Scanlan walked pinch-hitter Jack Howell, forcing in a run. Oscar Azocar popped up for the first out. That brought Jackson to the plate.

Jackson watched Scanlan throw his first pitch for a strike. The second was out of the strike zone. The next pitch was just where he wanted it, and he swung with all his might.

Cub left fielder George Bell never moved. He didn’t even flinch. The ball soared high over his head, over the bleacher bums, out of the stadium and bounced onto Waveland Avenue.

The Padres had a 10-9 lead and never looked back. They added another run on Benito Santiago’s second hit of the inning for an 11-9 lead. The beneficiary of the Padres’ six-run inning was Mike Maddux, who gave up six hits and four earned runs in 3 1/3 innings but was the pitcher of record.

The question now was whether the Padres could hold the Cubs.

Riddoch called upon rookie Jim Lewis, who was called up only two week ago and had pitched only 2 1/3 innings.

Lewis calmly retired the first six batters he faced and allowed only two hits in 3 1/3 innings, setting up Jose Melendez for his second consecutive save.